1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a waterproof cover used for a connector to prevent water from entering a connector housing through a wire lead-out portion thereof even if high pressure washing water is jetted thereto, and more specifically to a waterproof cover used for a connector in which a rear holder portion (for preventing terminals from being moved rearward from the connector housing) and a waterproof cover portion are both formed integral with each other.
2. Description of Related Art
An example of conventional connectors each provided with a waterproof cover is disclosed in Japanese Published Unexamined Utility Model Application No. 3-2570. In this conventional connector of waterproof structure, the connector is composed of a connector housing, a plurality of terminals each connected to a wire together with a rubber waterproof plug, and a waterproof cover including a rear holder portion and a waterproof cover portion. In more detail, an end of the wire is connected to a rear end of the terminal, and the rubber waterproof plug is fitted to the outer circumference of the wire connected to the terminal. On the other hand, the connector housing is formed with a plurality of terminal insertion holes and some engage recessed portions and some engage holes. Therefore, the terminals having the wire and the waterproof plug are inserted into the terminal insertion holes, respectively. The rear holder portion of the waterproof cover serves to push the terminals frontward via the waterproof plugs, respectively; that is, to prevent the terminals and the waterproof plugs from being removed from the connector housing. The rear holder portion of the waterproof cover is a thick-wall square-shaped base plate formed with a few slits for leading out the wires and having some engaging projection portions engaged with the engage recessed portions of the connector housing and lock projections locked with the lock holes thereof, respectively. On the other hand, the waterproof cover portion is formed into a cylindrical shape and split into two cover halves so that the wires can be covered. These two split cover halves are connected to an upper end edge and a lower end edge of the rear holder portions via two hinges, respectively so as to be opened and closed relative to each other. Further, a lock mechanism is provided on the outer surface of the two cover halves to lock the two closed cover halves. In addition, the water cover portion is formed with a rear wire lead-out hole at the rear end thereof.
To attach the waterproof cover (composed of the rear holder portion and the waterproof cover portion) to the connector housing so as to cover the wires under a waterproof condition, first the lock projections of the rear holder portion are engaged with the lock holes of the connector housing so that the engage projection portions of the rear holder portion can be engaged with the engage recessed portions of the connector housing. Under these conditions, the waterproof plugs fitted to the wires, respectively can be urged toward the connector housing by the attached waterproof cover. After that, the wires led out of the splits formed in the rear holder portion are taken out through the wire lead out hole of the waterproof cover portion and then the two cover halves are closed and further locked by the lock mechanism. Under these conditions, since the wire lead out portion can be protected by the waterproof cover portion, even if high pressure washing water is directly jetted against the connector, it is possible to prevent water from entering the connector housing.
Further, there exists another conventional waterproof cover, which is composed of an oval-shaped rear holder portion formed with a single slit and a waterproof cover portion made up of two cover halves. These two cover halves are also connected to the side edges of the rear holder portion via hinge portions so as to be opened and closed with respect to each other.
In assembly, the rear holder portion is attached to the connector housing with the use of some lock projections and lock holes, and further the two cover halves are closed and locked with the use of a lock mechanism. Further, in tills example, a corrugated tube fitted to the wires is sandwiched between the two closed cover halves for waterproof.
In the above-mentioned two conventional waterproof covers, however, since the structure is such that the rear holder portion and the waterproof cover portion are connected to each other through hinges, there exists a problem in that the hinges are easily broken off during maintenance so that the waterproof cover portion is easily removed from the connector. In addition, during disassembly of the connector, since the two cover halves must be first unlocked and then the rear holder portion must be further unlocked (i.e. a double unlocking operation), a problem arises in that the disassembly work is troublesome and therefore it takes much time.